"These are messages from beyond. For some reason, about ten years ago I began to receive messages from dead men about their perceptions of the afterlife. From them I have determined that the Great Beyond is particular. That is, each man seems to understand it according to his own character, which is apparently retained after death. The messages came to me in alphabetical order and each is five lines long, which proves there is a plan to the Infinite. I have printed each message exactly as it appeared to me, preceded by my own comments about the man from whom it was received"--Author's letter to the reader.